Military Cuts Loom as Late Campaign Issue

By

Patrick O'Connor

Updated July 8, 2012 7:59 p.m. ET

For all the focus on the unemployment rate heading into the November elections, the layoffs that could most complicate President Barack Obama's re-election prospects wouldn't take effect until early next year.

Unless Congress and the White House reach a compromise by year-end, the Pentagon would have to slash roughly $50 billion more from the current fiscal-year budget in January. That prospect of wide layoffs could undercut Mr....